I believe the anger of rank-and-file members of trade union Cosatu have a far bigger problem than just the ANC government. The ongoing, ever widening rift between the Cosatu leadership and union members is starting to show.
Although there might be a semblance of democracy at the workplace, where Cosatu members are still able to elect their own shop stewards and hold them to account, it is a different story when it comes to democracy in the upper levels of the trade union movement.
The union officials and various leaders of the unions who make up Cosatu have, to a large degree, moved away from worker issues. The union leadership has been co-opted by the ANC and government. This clearly shows when you hear Zingiswa Losi declare allegiance to the ANC, yet when ANC chair Gwede Mantashe wants to speak he is booed off stage.
The rift between Cosatu members and its leadership is not new, it has been documented and studied for the past 25 years. In Labour Beyond Cosatu, Johann Maree analysed the gradual breakdown between members and leaders: “It is thus clear that there is a democratic rupture between the rank-and-file members and the union and federation leaders ... It can be understood as the existence of oligarchy within Cosatu.”
This rupture is starting to show in a meaningful way today. The tripartite alliance is no longer functional, and in fact is destructive. The members can now clearly see that the interests of the ANC are vastly different to the interests of the workers.
Michael Bagraim, MP
DA deputy shadow employment & labour minister
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